Qld auditor-general warned of fraud: LNP

A recent auditor-general's report showed the Queensland government should have had tougher controls to prevent frauds like the $16 million rip-off of Queensland Health, the opposition says.

Police are looking for public servant Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, also known as Joel Barlow, who's alleged to have siphoned the millions into private accounts over the past three years, including one payment of $11 million made in the past fortnight.

Authorities have the passport of the New Zealand-born 36-year-old, who was the manager of the finance division at Queensland Health's Community Services Branch.

Morehu-Barlow has had $12 million in assets frozen and major ports nationwide have been notified in case he tries to skip the country.

Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said on Saturday that a report tabled in June pointed out the government was vulnerable to embezzlement because of poor financial management controls.

The auditor-general's report stated "there appears to have been a loss of focus across the public sector on maintaining basic financial controls, with the number of agencies failing to maintain these controls increasing. This trend has the potential to expose the public sector as a whole to significant risk".

Mr Nichols said the government needs to explain whether it had acted on the report.

"The auditor-general identified this as a possibility if proper financial controls were not put in place," Mr Nichols told AAP on Saturday.

"Did the government take any notice of what the auditor-general said? If so what did they do?"

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said there had been a failure at Queensland Health.

"The Queensland government has in place a very intricate set of checks and balances in its finance area. Clearly some of those in this case have failed," Ms Bligh said on Saturday.

"I want to know exactly where those failing points were and that's what we are investigating. We've bought in independent, external forensic auditors to identify what point the checks and balances have not worked.

"Obviously they have failed and that's not good enough. I want to know who is responsible and why this has happened."

Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said Morehu-Barlow was still likely to be in Australia and being sheltered by friends.

"We do have possession of his passport and our intelligence would suggest he is still here in Australia, if not Queensland," Mr Stewart told reporters on Saturday.

"He has accommodation and residences and he has not been to those residences.

"I suspect he is with friends within the community who are misguidedly looking after him, providing him some shelter."

Morehu-Barlow, who has been a public servant since 2005, has not been seen since he attended work on Thursday.

He was investigated by Queensland Health for fraud 12 months ago, but the claim was not substantiated.

Ms Bligh has appealed for public support in the manhunt for Morehu-Barlow.

"This is a reprehensible crime," Ms Bligh told reporters on Saturday.

"Mr Barlow has an obligation to assist police with their inquiries.

"Anyone who knows Mr Barlow please contact Crime Stoppers."

Mr Nicholls told AAP even if all the money was recovered, the cost of pursuing Morehu-Barlow, any subsequent court action, the audit and changes to the financial controls would put the government more than a million dollars out of pocket.